Al Fresco Smoked Andouille Chicken Sausage

I love andouille sausages.  My current favorite are the Johnsonville brand.  

Unfortunately they're 7 pts a piece, which is more than I'm using willing to spend.  

So when I saw these for 3 pts a piece I knew I had to try them.

They are sort of shorter and stubbier than the Johnsonville.

And,...  I really didn't like them at all.

I told my husband he can eat the rest of them.  

These were disappointing.  The taste was just weird and hard to explain.

Of course everyone has different tastes but, for me, this was a no go.  

I won't buy these again.  

I'm still glad I tried them though!  

Trying new things is mission critical to keep our weight loss journey from becoming monotonous.  

When You're In Need... GIVE

I've been feeling a little flat lately. 

Having had the flu in the past week didn't help but I've felt a simmering discontent even before that.

However, I was recently invited by a group on CONNECT to join a challenge.

The first week our challenge was to do 20 sit ups, 20 push ups(on the knees counts!), 20 lunges and one 60 second plank each day for at least 4 days in the week.

This second week we added in doing 10 minutes of meditation a day.

A lot of people think of meditation as some kind of woo woo thing but it's really not. 

There are also a lot of ideas out there about what meditation has to be- sitting in the silence for a certain amount of time.

Personally, I think meditation can be kinetic.  When I was still doing portrait drawings in charcoal I always found shading to be meditative.  Some people can meditate while playing an instrument or gardening.

It's just a time to quiet the mind and feel at peace. 

Anyway, I decided part of my exercise this week would be to bring more mindfulness to all of my interactions- at the grocery store, work, gas station, home, etc.

So today I left the house feeling a little tired and less than enthusiastic.  I went to an obligatory office meeting on my day off and then went to run errands. 

I had been strongly craving scallops but when I got to the grocery store I saw they were $17.99 per pound which is really pricey in my book.

But, I was practicing being present with the woman who worked behind the seafood and meat counter. 

I made eye contact, smiled and talked with her. 

She took me completely by surprise.  She told me she loved her job, that she never thought she'd say that she loved to work at a meat dept but she did.

I told her I was trying to decide how many scallops I thought I could afford and she said "You know what?  They're on sale over at Hy-Vee today for $9.99 per pound.  I'll price match it for you".

So I got a huge discount!  That alone was great but the part that was even better?

Her smile.  It was real and bright and it lightened my whole day.

She was so real with me and so kind.  It lifted me up and by the time I got home I had so much energy I couldn't wait to go work out!

Giving doesn't have to mean draining your bank account.  Sometimes the best gift you can give someone else is a real smile.  I gave one today and it came back to me multiplied. 

So, it's really true what they say- if you're feeling down and in need, the best thing you can sometimes do is to give.

You'll be pleasantly surprised by just how much you get back in return.

Have a wonderful weekend!

~Carrie

Al Fresco Uncured Chicken Bacon & Smucker's Sugar Free Jam

The Chobani flips are for my son. ;)

Once again, this is another product I saw on CONNECT.  It's Al Fresco Uncured Chicken Bacon.

This is 2 slices for 1 pt.  It is delicious!  It is a bit pricey though.  I'm not sure I'll spring for this again unless I'm getting tired of my Hormel Black Label Bacon that is also 2 slices for 1 pt.  

The texture and appearance reminded me of the Sizzlelean bacon from when I was a kid.  

I used to love that stuff.  

I also LOVE this Smucker's Sugar Free Strawberry Jam.  It's sweetened with Splenda, which is something I don't usually go for, but the amount I eat in a given week is pretty negligible.  

This is 0 pts for 1 Tbsp!!!  And it tastes wonderful!  I like to spread it over a slice of Sara Lee's Delightful 45 calorie bread.  It's 1 pt per slice and really good!

 So here's my breakfast today.  It's a total of 2 pts!!!  Woo hoo!

That gives me extra points for later when I'm going to indulge in my Simply Lite Dark Chocolate bar ;)

A girl's gotta have her priorities.  I'm pretty much convinced that on the 8th Day God created Chocolate.  Yumm.....

Happy Cooking!

Just a few short Sunday Funnies today.  

My husband and I had a rare daytime date.  

So, what do we do on a day date?  Go to the library of course!!!

One of our local libraries rivals Barnes & Noble for comfort and selection and, ...

IT'S FREE!!!  

I love the library!

They have a really cute gift shop too.  We saw these signs in that gift shop and it made both of us laugh out loud so I thought I'd post them for you.

This one says "Oh, you don't like your job?  There's a support group for that.  It's called EVERYBODY and they meet at the bar".  lol

Remember, if you laugh hard enough you get Fit Points!!!  

Belly laughing today will jiggle that fat right away!  lol

Happy Giggles!

Simply Lite Dark Chocolate

This is another product I heard about on CONNECT.  It's sweetened with maltitol.

This comes out to 3 squares or 1/4 of the bar, for 4 pts.  

Initially when I ordered this I thought it was the whole bar for 4 pts but alas, no.  

It is a bit pricey and I had to buy this on Amazon since I couldn't find it locally.  

However, ....

It tastes FANTASTIC!!!  To me, this tasted like the real deal.  

The only hard part is not eating the whole thing.  That is not easy.  

If you really need a chocolate fix though, this will fit the bill.  

It's oh, so good.  Mmmmm....

Swoon Worthy! Weeklies Worthy! Wonderful Fennel!!!

My son and I had a fun date day last week.  In the morning before we started our day I told him the theme would be "Try something new!".

In keeping with that theme, the first thing we did was to head down to our favorite locally owned health food store.

I asked him to pick out one vegetable that he'd never tried before and later we'd fix it and taste it together.

He chose a fennel and, I might add, he was adamant that we use the entire vegetable, stalks and all.

So we used the delicate fronds for a salad, the stalks we placed under white fish when baking to infuse flavor, but the bulb we used differently.

In the past I've used a vegan recipe for braised fennel bulb that uses quite a bit of oil, soy milk and white miso.  It's delectable but point laden and takes 40 minutes or better.  Not good for the waistline at all.

So I decided to look around and find something new.  This is the recipe I decided to use.

I didn't have two fennel bulbs so I just used the one and I used fat free half and half in place of the milk.  I kept everything else the same.

Can I just say, you may need to sit down to eat this because I literally swooned when I tasted it!!!!

This is literally THE BEST way I've ever had fennel.  I'm saving this recipe for special events, when company is coming or for an extra special treat for myself when I have weeklies.

It is higher in points than about anything I usually make but it was absolutely worth it.

I also want to point out that I only ate about 1/2 cup of the milk.  There's way more milk there than you need but it has to have something to cook in.

Even before I start cooking this under pressure the smell of warm milk and nutmeg just suffused my whole house, just heavenly.

So if you like fennel I highly encourage you to try this at least once.

I felt absolutely decadent eating this dish.

Happy Cooking!!!

2 Ingredient Dough!

I have been seeing and hearing about this 2 ingredient dough ALL OVER CONNECT!

People are getting super creative in making new recipes with this base.  I've seen people making cinnamon rolls, putting it in a mini muffin pan and filling it with taco filling, pretzels, bagels,... you name it!  There are limitless possibilities!

I have been longing to try it out but admittedly nervous because, as I've said before, I'm not a baker. 

Here are the magic 2~

1 cup self rising flour(13 pts)

1 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt(0 pts)

Note:  If you don't have self rising type flour just add in 1 1/2 tsp baking powder to the flour.
This is what I did. 

Also, instead of kneading this dough I put it in my Kitchenaid mixer and used the dough hook.  This was much less mess than what I saw on CONNECT. 



Pre-heat the oven to 450 F.

Mix the dry ingredients together, if needed.  Place the yogurt in the mixer and then slowly add the flour and mix until it forms a ball.  Then mix an additional couple minutes.

I sprayed my pizza stone with olive oil spray as well as my hands before I worked with it. 

Spread the dough out on the stone and bake alone for 8-10 minutes. 

Take it out and then add your desired toppings.  I used 2 oz part skim mozzarella, marinara, 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan and turkey pepperoni. 

My pizza came out to 7 pts for a third of it!

The dough was slightly doughy but other than that it was fabulous!  I originally cooked the dough 7 minutes before adding toppings.  That's why I recommended you all bake it for 8-10 minutes first.

I think the taste was great! 

My only problem was that I ate too much.  Pizza is a trigger food for me, .... still. 

My husband wasn't home and my son wasn't hungry so all of that yummy pizza was just sitting there tempting and calling me like a siren song. 

Next time I'll drink a bunch of water and eat a salad before it gets done.  And, I'll make sure my hubby is here to help eat it!!!

That usually helps. 

I'm definitely going to try this out again but next time it may be a cinnamon treat. 

Doesn't that sound heavenly?

Chicken & Chickpea Masala

Today I had a wild hare and felt like making something different.  

I decided to use my pressure cooker because, after all, I originally bought it for its many benefits~ shorter cooking times, uses less energy which creates more time and money for me.  

So, I found this recipe to try.  

I'm not going to re-post the recipe but I will give you a sneak peak at the making of this dish.

Things I changed~

I substituted chicken breasts for the drumsticks to decrease the points.  

I also substituted fat free half and half for the whole milk and only used 3 Tbsp of lemon juice.  

Personally, I don't like a strong lemon flavor in something like this.  Next time I make this I may just make it 2 Tbsp.

I loved cooking the spices on the stove top.  My whole house smelled aromatic.

I will also tell you that I didn't use all the spinach it called for.  I had two 6 oz bags instead of 18 oz and it already seemed like a lot of spinach.

Before

After

After adding the half & half

Every time I use my pressure cooker I ask myself why I'm not using it more.  It's amazing how fast everything cooks and it's so easy.

Let's talk points~  

This recipe serves 4, which I gotta tell you, really surprised me.  These are huge serving sizes!

If you make the changes I made to this recipe it comes out to 3 pts.

The taste was great!  Of course, liking Indian food is a requisite here but I do.

I love their different blends of spices and textures, colors and aromas.  

Make this plan more fun and try something new!  

Happy Cooking!

Blueberry Lemon Banana Yogurt Muffins

I've been craving warm, blueberry muffins lately.

I haven't bought or made them homemade because they're high in points and I didn't trust myself not to eat several in one sitting. 

But, then I found this recipe on drizzlemeskinny.

Considering each muffin is only 2 pts a piece I thought it would be safe enough to try. 

Plus, it's another way to use a zero point power food, plain, non-fat Greek yogurt!

Here's a peak~

The only thing I changed was that I used FAGE plain, non-fat Greek yogurt in place of the lemon flavor. 

I did this because I didn't have it on hand and I didn't want the lemon taste to be overwhelming.  Some people really like that but I'm not one of them. 

Do whatever works for you.

I also mixed all my dry ingredients in a separate bowl before adding them to the mixture. 


This is generally a good rule of thumb to prevent cooking disasters.

I know this from experience ;)

The scoop? 

These are good.  They're not the same as eating the full fatty, high point and high sugar muffins but I'm satisfied with these today.

I'm still working on getting back on track after the holidays so I don't think having the full fatty muffins around would be smart.

When I'm more in control I'll probably want to have one or two of those. 

Today, this fits the bill.

Enjoy your power foods!

WW Friendly Websites & Podcasts

I've posted my favorite websites before.

You can find them here.  Just scroll down toward the bottom of the page to see it. 

However yesterday I came across two websites that were new to me.

They are mindovermunch and dailydoseofpepper.

These are both WW friendly sites that list point values for the recipes they post.

I've also just discovered the joy of listening to Podcasts.

The first one I listened to was a WW with the username of @fatdag whose Podcast is called Why's Advice.

He also has an app at the app store you can download for free to listen.

In addition, he has his own website which you can find here.  This Podcast has become HUGE and I believe he is expanding this.

More recently an online WW pal of mine introduced me to @liquidshano who has a Podcast called coffee talk.

You can also find his website here.

You know with so many people blogging and posting and podcasting you'd think a lot of this would just be repetition but it's really not for me.

I think we each have a different perspective and every perspective is valuable.

These folks really help sort through the mental clutter.

Remember that you can search for their apps or podcasts without being a Weight Watcher.

These are open to the public.  So if you have a friend who is struggling or can't afford going to meetings, you might consider sharing these with them.

We're definitely better together.

Happy Surfing! ;)

Red Rose Sweet Temptations Tea

If you love hot tea then you're in for a treat!

My friend, Jodie, was kind enough to gift me with several delicious hot teas in various flavors.

These are Red Rose brand.  You can check them out here on their website or buy them on Amazon.

The scoop is that they're zero calories, stevia sweetened, caffeine free heaven!

My friend tells me that they're also really good with a little almond milk but I haven't tried that yet. 

I wanted to try them all plain first before I add anything in.

This is a very mild and subtle sweetness that I really enjoyed.

This is nice to have at the end of a long day.

Last night I had a cup of strawberry cheesecake tea while curled up on the couch in front of the fireplace, wrapped in my fuzzy blanket and socks.  

Now that's a great, zero point way to find comfort.  ;)

Thanks Jodie!

Creole Frittata

I LOVE ethnic foods and one of my favorites is good Creole Cuisine.  

One of my favorite recipes that I've personally made on this blog is Jambalaya.

You can find the recipe here.  

But, I'm going to attach a warning with it- it's good.  I mean it's really, really good.

Which means it's hard for me, and my husband I might add, to not binge on it.

Even though it's not bad point wise I just lose control when I make this dish and chow down like nobody's business.  

So I've been thinking of lower point ways I can still get the same taste without sacrificing flavor.

Since eggs are now FREE on the WW's FREEstyle program I decided to make it a Creole Frittata.

To make this I cut the spices in half and I used shrimp and turkey bacon as the only protein.  

I left out the thyme again because I personally don't like the taste of thyme.  I also elected to leave out bay leaves and Anaheim pepper because I didn't have it on hand and you know how lazy I am.  hee hee

I reduced a few of the ingredients so as not to overwhelm the eggs.  

Ingredients

12 pieces of uncooked Oscar Mayer turkey bacon(or whatever brand you like)

cooking spray

7 whole eggs

1 yellow onion, finely diced

2 stalks of celery finely diced

1 red bell pepper or 2 small sweet peppers, finely diced

10 oz of pre-cooked, tail off shrimp, (thawed if from frozen)

1 cup Better Than Bouillon Lobster Base(or chicken or vegetable broth)

Salt & pepper to taste

1/2 oz white wine

1 pinch of cayenne 

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp pre-roasted, minced garlic(I buy it in a jar)

1/2 tsp smoked paprika 

1/4 tsp oregano

1 tsp tomato paste

1/2 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 F.  Get a large, 6 muffin tin and spray it with cooking spray.

Start lining each muffin cup with turkey bacon.  You'll curl one piece around horizontally and then cut a second piece in half and overlap these on the bottom to form a cup.

Then repeat with the remaining muffin cups.

In a large, non-stick skillet, add the onion, peppers, and celery and saute at least ten minutes, using the broth to prevent scorching or sticking to the pan.

Then add in what remains of the cup.  There should be some standing liquid.  

At this point add in the garlic and all the remaining spices(dry and wet) and stir well.  

Let this simmer for 10 minutes.  Now add in the shrimp and stir well.  

In a large bowl add in 7 eggs and whisk well.  

Add the egg mixture evenly to each muffin cup, filling about halfway.  

Note:  YOU WILL HAVE A LOT OF LEFTOVER SHRIMP MIXTURE!!! 

If you don't want to have a lot left over cut down how much you put in to begin with.

I ended up spooning the extra shrimp and spices over my cooked frittata muffin and it was great!

All the points come from the turkey bacon in this recipe.  

After filling you'll add in about 2 Tbsp of your filling.  

Bake these muffins for 30 minutes, checking at the 25 minute mark to make sure it isn't getting overcooked.  

When they're done they shouldn't shake or jiggle or look wet.  

These come out to 2 points a piece!

And, they were super yummy however, they didn't make me feel like bingeing.  

That is a total win!

This is where I topped it off with the extra shrimp and veggie mix!  So yummy!!!!

Happy Cooking!!!